Dragon Rider
by Nocez
Summary: Harry is changing, his abilities growing. He decides to take his training into his own hands and... disappears... somewhere around chapter 5 I would think, I'm not a big planner. Story will most likely be rated M if continued. Story name is temporary.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Boy! Get down here NOW!" The high-pitched, shrill voice of Aunt Petunia practically roared from downstairs.

Harry Potter sat silent in his room, only the scratching of his quill on the parchment scroll in front of him disturbing the peace and quite that reigned after his aunt's cry had died down.

The late afternoon light streamed in through the window behind him, falling lightly on his back, making the deep inner light of his eyes all the more apparent.

No worry could be seen on his face as he lazily scribbled the last words of his 7 feet long Transfiguration essay, though those who knew him well would have been able to see the deep pain and grief that lay well hidden beneath the surface.

He knew that the Dursley's wouldn't be able to punish him for taking a while to finish up just as well as they did.

There were guards. At the moment only one of them, but that was a rare occurrence.

He rolled up the essay in advanced fifth year Transfiguration and placed it beside the ones from the other subjects. He had finished his assigned homework on the first week of summer and had then proceeded to read endlessly, burying himself in the books from his previous years (carefully avoiding the books written by Gilderoy Lockhart), doing a kind of re-schooling of himself, learning everything anew. After finishing them, at the end of week two, he compiled all of his newfound knowledge into advanced essays in each subject. The essays were purely for his own satisfaction at the moment; if he were to send them in to his respective teachers at Hogwarts they would know something was wrong.

The strange thing wasn't even that he, who usually took quite a lot of time doing his homework and only read a little bit quicker than his friend, the homework-inept Ron, had read all this in less than a week, but that he remembered it.

Somehow he seemed to have memorized _everything_ after just reading them through once, though he usually would have needed at least three times to remember it, and even then his memory would have lacked the detail with which he could now memorize.

He figured it was just a fortunate side-effect of wizarding puberty or something, as he had been growing stronger these past two weeks as well, even though the change wasn't huge. Maybe the puberty had caused his magic to help him along the way a little, what with the freakishly good memory he'd so suddenly acquired. He knew this couldn't be the whole truth though, he wasn't stupid. He hadn't exactly been the most tedious student of all time these last few years but now he found that he actually wanted to study. He'd wanted to _improve_ before, yes, but not _study_.

It was likely that this was also what had caused his Legilimency ability to develop. He'd read a chapter on the subject in his fifth year magical theory book, where it was used as an example for so called "mind magic", which basically meant wandless magic, and then he had begun doing the exercises the book described while going about his daily routines. His mind-gift had then continued to grow at a surprisingly high pace the last few days until not even his guards were able to shield themselves from him sensing their presence.

Not that they knew of his Legilimency, mind you; he'd been very discreet while his power developed, so as to not alarm anyone, but it was obvious why they would want to shield people from sensing their presence. There could be an attack at any moment, even though the blood magic was supposedly preventing such an occurrence, and they were supposed to be hidden guards. The keyword being 'hidden'. He wasn't supposed to know where they were and neither was a would-be attacker.

It wasn't as if he was able to read their minds anyway, see their memories and stuff like that, just sense their presence and immediate intentions. He wouldn't even qualify as an intermediate Legimens at his current level, but his extra-sensory ability was definitely unusually strong from what he could derive of the text.

Still not in much of a hurry, Harry slowly made his way out of his room and down the stairs, registering the presence filing in behind him from where it had stood hidden behind the door to Dudley's room. It was not a very pleasant one.

As he stepped down into the hallway a punch flew at him from behind, heading directly at the back of his head and, he could tell, intending to wound seriously.

Sidestepping it, Harry whirled around and elbowed Piers in the back, just hard enough for him to lose his balance and fall a face-first into the floor with a loud thump.

Piers Polkiss; Dudley's busy little helper. With not much real strength himself he's the one to sneak up on people to hold their arms behind their backs while Dudley and the rest of the gang take turns punching. So pathetic.

"If you're going to sneak up on me, can't you at least do it properly Piersey-boy?" Harry taunted, a small smirk working its way onto his face as he watched his opponent trying to stand up but not quite succeeding due to a foot pressing down on his back.

"Shut your mouth, Potter." Piers hissed venomously. "I'll get you for this!"

"Sure you will, Piers. Just remember this the next time you think of trying to hit me from behind, won't you?" Harry replied, chuckling slightly, before relieving the pressure from Piers back and walking away.

"Screw you, Potter… If you think I'll be alone next time you've got another one coming…" Piers muttered before calling goodbye to the Dursley's and leaving.

Even in his current rather unfit state Harry could have caused some serious damage to Piers, as he knew what he was going to do almost before Piers himself did, but had decided not to. He knew that Piers would not have spared him had the tables been turned, but felt it would be wrong to harm him unless he really had to. _Well, harm him severely at least._

'

"What took you so long, boy?" Vernon asked as he stepped into the kitchen.

"I was finishing up on an essay, Uncle Vernon." Harry replied, his voice steady and his face the epitome of calm. "And I believe that was Piers tripping in the stairs."

Vernon's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You better not have done anything _unnatural_, you little-" Vernon began, whispering threateningly, but was cut short.

"Or you'll do what, uncle dear?" Harry mocked him, his voice so thick with sarcasm that he could almost match Snape. "Get upset? Because we couldn't have that, now could we? But to still your worries, no, I did not do anything _unnatural_." He pronounced the last word with feigned disgust.

Shock and a faint, almost nonexistent, hint of fear was evident on each of the Dursleys' faces.

Harry was extremely aware of this fact as he sat down at the table, filling his plate fully with food, yet another insult to their so-called authority. He smiled silently to himself. They wouldn't do anything about it.

After a few seconds Aunt Petunia once again started nervously sipping her post-dinner cup of tea and the ever-eating Dudley excused himself from the table, even though there was still food on his plate. Vernon just sat there, trying to suppress his rage in fear of doing something that he'd regret.

The Dursley's feared him, for his magic and the magic of everyone else of his kind. They always had, he knew that now, that's why they always treated him like dirt and only fed him enough to survive.

'

"I'm going out for a while" Harry stated in the general direction of his aunt and uncle as he headed for the door, after finishing his meal. He was acknowledged only by an absentminded grunt from Uncle Vernon.

Earlier in the week Harry had decided he would start working out as an addition to his studying. It would be good preparation for whatever the future held for him, for no matter what that might be, he thought, it was bound to be tougher than anything he'd ever been faced with before.

He was going to go see if the local gym was open in the evenings.

As he left the garden he knew that his current babysitter was following him closely, and he knew why. He hadn't left the house much these past weeks, so him doing so was considered an oddity and was, as such, treated with caution.

It was a cool evening considering the time of year, not unpleasant but rather a nice break from the heat that plagued the area during the day. There were more people than usual walking the streets on Little Whining. He decided to start his workout early. Scaring the shit out of the guard on duty would be a welcome by-product.

Without warning he set off at a fast sprint down the street, towards the park, dodging people as he went. He had left the guard a fair bit behind, but whoever it was the person in question was once again catching up to him.

_He's fast. _Harry thought. But if there was one thing Harry had going for him physically, it was speed. He accelerated, and jumped clear over a hedge, behind which he knew there was a picket fence. A skilled pursuer would notice this as well. His guard did not and instead stumbled forwards on the fence having barely made it over the hedge. He landed with a thud.

Harry took another few steps and swung himself up in one of the nearby trees. Then he waited. The guard had not yet noticed where he'd gone off to.

_Probably right terrified by now._

As the guard passed beneath him, Harry silently dropped down behind him.

The crack of a twig. The guard heard it and spun around, casting a stunner at Harry still mid-movement. Harry had seen this coming though. To the guard he seemed to move with unreal speed, but in truth he was aided greatly by being able to foresee what the guard would do.

The sweeping kick hit the guard from out of nowhere. It was as if Harry had countered even before he attacked. But no one could be that quick. Right? His legs where knocked out from under him and again he hit the ground with a thud.

Standing up from the kick, Harry picked up the wand from the ground and pointed it at the guard. "_Aperio_"He whispered quietly, cancelling the Obscuro charm that had been put on the guard.

_Guess it wasn't a he, then, after all_, Harry thought.

"Wotcher, Tonks!" He said, grinning widely.

End Chapter

A/N: This is the first draft of my first attempt at fan fiction. I wouldn't dream to ask you to take it easy with the criticism just because of that though, but I do prefer constructive criticism. Please tell me what you think, make suggestions, report mistakes, OOCness and such. If I continue it I will probably lengthen this chapter to include his visit to the gym. By pure coincidence I'm thinking Dudley probably works out there too. Hmm...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A moment ago, Tonks had been disarmed and exposed by the person she was supposed to be secretly protecting. Now she laid one the ground, looking up at him with a baffled expression adorning her delicate features, trying to figure out just how the hell it had happened.

She looked him over, still standing there grinning his cat-that-took-the-canary grin. He didn't exactly look like he'd been working out regularly, and yet he'd managed to outrun a trained and well in shape Auror. Not only that, then he'd tricked said Auror into falling, effectively hid himself while she was regaining her bearings, and then _disarmed_ her. Disarmed her while she was attempting to stun him. All without a wand and, which was probably the most impressive part of it all, _while_ _she was invisible!_

Then he'd dispelled her Obscuro charm. He wasn't supposed to be able to do that. He wasn't even supposed to know what an Obscuro charm _was_, not with his grades in Charms Theory. Yet he had dispelled it, and with her wand, which meant that it couldn't be tracked back to him. Somehow he must have known that too, as he wasn't likely to risk getting expelled, however unlikely an event that would be after what happened at the Department of Mysteries.

As Harry helped her up from the ground, she brushed some dirt out of her spiky pink hair.

She looked at him again, and still she had no idea how he'd managed it. As they began walking toward whatever destination Harry had in mind, she felt compelled to ask.

"Harry, how could you-" She began, frowning slightly at the whole thing.

"Know where you were?" Harry finished for her, smiling mischievously. "Easy. Considering you obviously drowned in your perfume this morning." He was enjoying teasing her, she knew, and so she hit him hard on the shoulder. "As for how I could dispel your Obscuro, I have been reading a lot lately. Fifth year charms theory does include self-casting, you know."

"_Right_, Harry." The look that Tonks gave him was damn near lethal. "Even if the Obscuro _was_ mentioned, they wouldn't explain the complex magical theory that lies behind it." She said.

"I know, Tonks, I know." He answered her, chuckling slightly. "Let's just leave it at that. That's where we're headed." He continued, indicating the small gym with a nod.

As they closed in on their destination, Harry asked Tonks about what was going on outside his personal little cage, and they talked of the upcoming war. It surprised Harry how honest Tonks seemed to be about what he asked, and he appreciated it greatly, since he had once again been virtually shut off from contact with his friends for the summer, despite the promises made at Kings Cross Station saying otherwise. It was good to have some contact with the outside again, even though it had only been two weeks.

'

As they entered the gym, it was already past seven o'clock, but from the posters outside they knew the gym was still open for another two hours or so.

It was not long after they'd stepped inside that they were greeted by a jovial man, not surprisingly of a rather muscular build, who looked to be in his late twenties.

"Hello, there! My name is Mark, Mark Davies, I own the place. What can I help you with?" He asked.

"Hi Mark. I'm Harry, and this is Tonks. Actually, I was thinking about beginning to work out, and since I live just a couple of blocks away I thought I'd try this place out." Harry said pleasantly, liking the man already.

"Nice to meet you, Harry. A new costumer is always welcome, I you get my drift." Mark said, grinning. "I'm willing to bet you haven't had much experience with this kind of thing, from the look of you. No offence, you just seem a little out of place."

"Yeah, that's right. I've played Qui... err..."

"Soccer" Tonks supplied her eyes attaining a Dumbledore-like twinkle as she gazed at him in his predicament. The corner of his mouth quirked slightly in response to her smile, but he was determined not to grin like an idiot.

"Yeah, soccer. Been playing it since I turned eleven, but this whole gym thing is new to me." Harry replied.

"I'll tell you what; you'll get the first few times for free. I'll show you how it works myself, just to get you started."

"Thanks Mark." Harry was relieved as he didn't exactly have any money. To be more specific he didn't have any money that they would accept here.

"No problem, will your girlfriend be joining us?" Mark asked. _Why would he assume that? Alright, alright, keep calm… Maybe it's just because we came in together…? But, no, people don't just assume something like that! Was I looking at her funny? Was she looking at me! No, she's probably closer to Mark's age than mine… Damn, need to answer now…_

"No, no, we're just friends!" Harry said, blushing profusely and making some gesture that were evidently _meant_ to show denial but looked more like an epileptic seizure. Tonks just snorted at his behaviour. _Boys will be boys._ _He's a teenager, after all._

"Yeeeeah… _Right_. So are you going to join us or what?" Mark asked, now choosing to direct his question at Tonks instead of the hormone mine-field named Harry.

"Sure thing." Tonks answered simply, indicating that they should enter the gym.

As Mark showed the way over to the first machine, Tonks fell back to walk beside Harry.

"What would be so bad about being my boyfriend, eh, you little sod?" She teased him, playfully elbowing him in the side.

"Accidentally snogging Snape when I think you're on guard duty, for one. Now that would be bad." He said, laughing slightly. "Would rather face Voldemort again than be in such close vicinity of that greasy little twit." Tonks didn't seem to like the joke though.

"Don't say that Harry, you might not even have to face You-Know-Who again… you'll have to be bloody lucky, I admit, but it's possible." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. He noted with a sigh that she didn't call Voldemort by his right name, and was slightly confused by what she was saying. He turned his head and looked directly into her eyes. For a split second he looked incredulous, but then he thought it over. _He _hadn't even known until the end of school, and he was about as involved as one can be. She didn't know squat about the prophecy, that much was clear from the absurdity of her previous statement. Of course he was going to have to face Voldemort again, he was going to either kill the bastard or get mercilessly eradicated from his short, pain filled existence even before he had the time to say "Voldemort". And it would involve pain. Lots of pain. It was as simple as that.

He didn't know if he should tell her or not. He'd have to think about it. As he finished the thought he refocused on what Mark was saying about the equipment, knowing that, though he could probably figure it out himself, one can never have too much information.

'

As Harry and Tonks came out of the gym, the watch on the wall inside read 21:03; three minutes after closing time. The reason why the gym had such late hours, Harry had learned, was because Mark wanted people who worked late to be able to still get a nice workout if they wanted to and since Mark usually ran the place himself in the afternoon he didn't lose any money that he would normally lose on paying an employee.

Another interesting thing Harry caught was that Mark was actually one of Dudley's boxing trainers. Since his gym was doing alright he didn't really have to work that much, and could instead focus on his two major passions in life: boxing and barbeques with his family. Having been a cruiserweight pro boxer himself, albeit not a particularly famous one, he had more than enough experience to give his boxing students the best coaching they could get. He confessed to Harry that he'd rather have continued his boxing career, but when his wife got pregnant he didn't have much of a choice other than to settle down. It seemed as if he was very happy with where he was in life though, so Harry didn't think he harboured any bitterness about the loss of his boxing career.

Mark on the other hand had learned some surprising things about Harry. Even tough the young man that had walked through the doors of his gym that evening hadn't looked like much, he hadn't been all that bad; and his determination was incredible. It was the kind of behaviour he always hoped to inspire in his students, the kind of thing necessary for becoming something great. As Mark walked home that night, he had a nagging suspicion that there was something more to this polite young man than met the eye.

'

Harry walked through the door into the Dursley household three minutes later, having run back after saying good bye to Tonks, to find Dudley and Vernon in a heated argument.

"That evil little bastard shouldn't be allowed to work out at _my_ gym! Why won't you do something about it! Tell him he can't!" Dudley was screaming furiously. Harry stepped out of his shoes and after another couple of steps leaned lazily against the doorpost between the living room and the hallway, deciding to observe.

"I can't! You know I can't! You weren't so cocky yourself when you saw that freak with the eye that was threatening me to treat him better, now were you? So just be quite and… try to ignore the freak. Would it harm you to try? Because that freak _would _harm you, if you don't!" Vernon said flustered, keeping his voice reasonably low, as this was his little Duddykins he was talking to, not the _boy_.

"Yeah, that's true, you know. Mad-Eye almost had your daddy here shitting his pants just by his mere presence." Harry said, deciding to help the conversation along.

"Shut up, you little midget!" Dudley replied instantly, thinking it made him look smart, being able to sling unimaginative insults at people like that.

"Be quite, Dudley!" Vernon interjected. "Now listen to me, _boy_, you might have some scary friends but don't think you can just do what you want!"

Harry stared him down calmly.

"Or what?"

"I'll slap you silly, that's what!"

Again with the icy stare.

"Give it a try." Harry challenged. Then he waited. No one made a move.

"Didn't think so." He said. "Now, I'll be starting to work out at the gym regularly tomorrow, so I suggest you get used to the idea Dudley."

Dudley's anger had been quenched quickly when Harry stood up to his father yet again, and left was just the fear. He sputtered indignantly a bit, but otherwise made no complaints.

"Good. I'm going to bed." Harry declared.

This had been a good day, he decided, before drifting of to sleep.

'

A person wearing black robes appeared with a pop beside her in the otherwise empty garden.

"Shift change." He stated simply.

"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't." She replied.

"Anything unusual about the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Torture-Me today?"

She hesitated for a second. "No, not really. He started working out at the local gym."

He sneered. "I bet he did. You should report in."

"I will." Tonks said, before disappearing. She noted that he seemed to be saving up his sarcasm for the eventuality that he would encounter their ward.

'

Albus Dumbledore was once again going through the stack of papers on his desk in the study of number 12 Grimmauld Place. They were reports from the Order's agents all across the British Isles, disturbing reports. Disturbing because they said nothing.

Everyone had thought that Voldemort would be starting his skirmishes against the light side and the world as a whole within a week of the Department of Mysteries event, if not at once. But, from the information Dumbledore was receiving, no such attacks had occurred, and he had a strong sense of foreboding about that. He was sure it was just the silence before the storm, but without any information there was nothing he could do but keep listening.

At least he knew Harry was safe.

After reading another report of 'nothing out of the ordinary', he was surprised to hear the single door of the study open with a creak. As he looked up he saw Tonks entering, her spiky pink hair dripping wet from the rain that was falling outside.

"I could've avoided this by simply apparating straight in if it hadn't been for you're nick for anti-apparition wards you know." She said gesturing at her wet hair and clothes.

"I thought that look was fashionable this summer." He replied, smiling, his eyes returning to the report.

Tonks sent a glare his way. "I was going to report in before withdrawing to my room."

"Then you should do just that, don't you agree? Anything unusual?"

Again, she hesitated. It couldn't really be seen as betraying Harry's trust, could it? He hadn't told her not to tell anyone about it, and besides, this was Dumbledore. Having justified her decision, she spoke.

"Yes."

This peaked the old wizard's interest. "What would that be, my dear?"

"He… He kind of… tricked me. And disarmed me. And dispelled my Disillusionment."

Dumbledore seemed to consider this. "How?" He asked after several seconds had passed.

When Tonks had finished retelling the event from her point of view, she was even more confused than before, because Dumbledore seemed to understand all this. In all actuality, he didn't, but he had a clue as to what kind of abilities it was that Harry was manifesting.

Being able to sense someone who is under any form of disillusionment - be it an Animagus form, a spell or an invisibility cloak – was a telltale sign of an incredibly powerful Legimens. But that in turn didn't make much sense, as the ability often took several years to manifest in a master Legimens, something which Harry simply couldn't have accomplished becoming over the period of two weeks. And then there was the spell. He had dispelled one of the most powerful Auror Disillusionment Charms there are, easily as that, and with someone else's wand! How he had learnt the counter-charm was a mystery indeed.

After being told what they had done for the remainder of Tonks' shift, and that Harry was planning to begin working out regularly at the gym, he gave her to a new assignment and wished her a good night's sleep. When she'd left he turned his mind back to this new piece of information. Harry was certainly growing into his heritage. His parents would be proud.

End Chapter

A/N: Ok, got some good feedback, so I thought I'd hurry up and write the second chapter. Please, continue reviewing with comments and suggestions, it really helps motivate one to write, and gives ideas. The visit to the gym… well, it won't be included in the first chapter as you can see. Next chapter should include Tonks' new assignment, a robbery and Harry getting beaten to a bloody pulp. Not sure all three will be included, but it's probable.

A/N ver2: Just realized that Dudley _was_ in fact at Kings Cross in the end of book five, he just wasn't mentioned a lot. Changed the conversation to fit this new revelation. Oh, and I changed another paragraph as well, because I felt that I had to add something about why Harry hadn't been receiving or sending any mail. Over and out.


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